Burning Mouth Syndrome Etiology and Symptoms

As the name implies, this is a pain that traditionally feels like a burning mouth (often the tongue). It occurs in between .7 and 5 percent of the population. This is a neuropathic pain that often has unknown causes, although local trauma may trigger it. I list some of the proposed triggers at the bottom of this post. There are so triggers that it is likely BMS patients are bound to get the condition, they are simply waiting for any one of the many triggers. At least one trigger is almost certainly hormonal as BMS impacts women 3:1 to 16:1 and is most common in women close to menopause.

The pain occurs on both sides of the front 2/3rds of the top of the tongue, the bottom and sides of the tongue, the front of the roof of the mouth, and the lower lip. The pain is usually a continuous constant burning feeling, however BMS suffers usually have less pain in the morning with increasing intensity throughout the day. Many times a feeling of dry mouth and or taste changes accompany BMS. Dry mouth is also one of the many conditions that we must rule out before a burning mouth syndrome diagnosis is made. The following are conditions that need to be ruled out from Balasubramaniam .

Burning Mouth Syndrome Treatment

This article May June issue 2011 has a great table on differential diagnosis and medications and therapies tried. The most successful seem to be clonazepam and then ALA. There is no guarantee that a single or any treatment will be successful for any individual patient. What works great for one patient may have zero impact on somebody else. Due to the large number of causative factors and the resulting possible treatments, an orofacial pain sub-specialist is usually the best clinician to treat BMS . UofI in Chicago has an excellent program.

There exists several things that you can do to reduce the symptoms of BMS. First of all you can try to limit personal stress and fatigue, because BMS often has a relationship to stress. Another tip is to avoid spicy, hot, and acidic foods, because these will aggravate the condition. Finally, you can chew sugar free gum or take sips of water, which seems to distract from the pain. However, these tips are mostly just treating the symptoms of BMS and are therefore unlikely to fully satisfy your concerns.

To treat the cause there are three general strategies. A behavioral strategy includes cognitive behavioral and group psychotherapy. A topical approach includes anxiolytics, antimicrobials, antifungals, artificial sweeteners, and low level laser treatment. The systemic approach includes a whole range of drugs: antidepressants, anxiolytics, anticonvulsants, antioxidants, atypical analgesics and antipsychotics, histamine receptor antagonists, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, salivary stimulants, dopamine agonists and herbal supplements.